Some Assembly Required

The holidays are in full swing around here and tis the season of gifting. Chances are high that something you will get or give will require some assembling. Even more than “Batteries not included,” the words “some assembly required can bring feelings of angst and anxiety to any parent trying to create some Christmas magic for their little ones. . Many are the years my husband and I have found ourselves sitting up well past Midnight in the early hours of Christmas morning playing Santa’s elves and piecing parts together like a jigsaw puzzle in an attempt to fulfill someone’s Christmas wishes. In fact, I’ve been known not to purchase a particular toy just because of this fact. Having lots of pieces floating around to keep track of and no idea how to put them together makes me really anxious, especially the longer said item is unassembled. Thankfully, my husband is much more patient than I, and pretty mechanically inclined. Over the years, we’ve tackled the assembly of quite a number of things on our own. It usually means my husband looking at an assortment of parts while I unsuccessfully try to look at diagrams with a magnifier and describe it to him as he uses his mechanical skills to try and figure out how things fit together. By the way, I highly recommend putting stuff together with your spouse. It’s great marriage therapy. You have to work together to solve a problem and try to do so without yelling even though you will yell and get frustrated with each other. When you’re finished, you’ll feel so empowered and bonded together over the bookshelf, Barbie house, elyptical machine, or air hockey table you just built together.

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Searching for instructions online or Youtube video tutorials can also be helpful in finding instructions in an accessible format. But, if you’re not so inclined to tackle assembly on your own, I suggest hiring someone to do it for you. Not only will it actually get done, but it will hopefully be done well and in a timely manner. We’ve hired friends and neighbors before to come and help us assemble play sets and small projects. The cost is worth it for our time and sanity. For example, last year after Christmas, we hired our neighbor’s two teenage boys to help us put some toys together after several unsuccessful attempts on our part. We paid them each about $10, and after about an hour, and some neighborhood bonding, things were ready to go. It was a win-win. Posting to a neighborhood group or church bulletin are also really good resources and can help you avoid any awkwardness of asking someone directly.

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Amazon also has a great assembly service. When you purchase something that needs assembling (furniture, exercise equipment, etc.), you can pay a fee to have someone come and do it for you. It can be a little pricy, but paying someone $50-100 to come and assemble something can be worth it depending on the complexity of the item, and save your sanity. Sometimes they will also offer discounts on assembly fees, so keep an eye out for those. We ordered a set of bunkbeds with built-in drawers once and paid an $80 fee to have them assembled. It took the technician about six hours, so this was totally worth it as this was too big of a project for us to tackle on our own.

For other big jobs, hiring a local handyman is also a great resource. The fees will probably be higher, but it may be worth it for your time and sanity. Lastly, I recently heard of an app called Takel for “tackling” projects. I have yet to check it out, but it may be a great source for things like this too.

So, if the words “some assembly required” are in your near future, I hope this post is helpful and brings you a little peace. Happy holidays and May the true peace of the season be with you and yours.

“Some assembly required”:

The holidays are in full swing around here and tis the season of gifting. Chances are high that something you will get or give will require some assembling. Even more than “Batteries not included,” the words “some assembly required can bring feelings of angst and anxiety to any parent trying to create some Christmas magic for their little ones. . Many are the years my husband and I have found ourselves sitting up well past Midnight in the early hours of Christmas morning playing Santa’s elves and piecing parts together like a jigsaw puzzle in an attempt to fulfill someone’s Christmas wishes. In fact, I’ve been known not to purchase a particular toy just because of this fact. Having lots of pieces floating around to keep track of and no idea how to put them together makes me really anxious, especially the longer said item is unassembled. Thankfully, my husband is much more patient than I, and pretty mechanically inclined. Over the years, we’ve tackled the assembly of quite a number of things on our own. It usually means my husband looking at an assortment of parts while I unsuccessfully try to look at diagrams with a magnifier and describe it to him as he uses his mechanical skills to try and figure out how things fit together. By the way, I highly recommend putting stuff together with your spouse. It’s great marriage therapy. You have to work together to solve a problem and try to do so without yelling even though you will yell and get frustrated with each other. When you’re finished, you’ll feel so empowered and bonded together over the bookshelf, Barbie house, elyptical machine, or air hockey table you just built together.

Searching for instructions online or Youtube video tutorials can also be helpful in finding instructions in an accessible format. But, if you’re not so inclined to tackle assembly on your own, I suggest hiring someone to do it for you. Not only will it actually get done, but it will hopefully be done well and in a timely manner. We’ve hired friends and neighbors before to come and help us assemble play sets and small projects. The cost is worth it for our time and sanity. For example, last year after Christmas, we hired our neighbor’s two teenage boys to help us put some toys together after several unsuccessful attempts on our part. We paid them each about $10, and after about an hour, and some neighborhood bonding, things were ready to go. It was a win-win. Posting to a neighborhood group or church bulletin are also really good resources and can help you avoid any awkwardness of asking someone directly.

Amazon also has a great assembly service. When you purchase something that needs assembling (furniture, exercise equipment, etc.), you can pay a fee to have someone come and do it for you. It can be a little pricy, but paying someone $50-100 to come and assemble something can be worth it depending on the complexity of the item, and save your sanity. Sometimes they will also offer discounts on assembly fees, so keep an eye out for those. We ordered a set of bunkbeds with built-in drawers once and paid an $80 fee to have them assembled. It took the technician about six hours, so this was totally worth it as this was too big of a project for us to tackle on our own.

For other big jobs, hiring a local handyman is also a great resource. The fees will probably be higher, but it may be worth it for your time and sanity. Lastly, I recently heard of an app called Takel for “tackling” projects. I have yet to check it out, but it may be a great source for things like this too.

So, if the words “some assembly required” are in your near future, I hope this post is helpful and brings you a little peace. Happy holidays and May the true peace of the season be with you and yours.